What is Cybersecurity Due Diligence?

Cybersecurity Due Diligence is a structured and comprehensive assessment of a target company’s cybersecurity posture. It aims to evaluate the organisation’s current security capabilities, resilience to advanced cyber threats, and alignment with industry best practices and regulatory standards. This process is essential during mergers, acquisitions, or investment evaluations to identify potential cybersecurity risks and determine the cost and effort required to remediate them.

Who Needs Cybersecurity Due Diligence?

Cybersecurity Due Diligence is critical for:

  • Investors and Private Equity Firms are evaluating acquisition targets.
  • Companies involved in M&A transactions to assess cybersecurity risk exposure.
  • Enterprise Risk Managers need insight into third-party cybersecurity posture.
  • Regulated industries (e.g., finance, healthcare, energy) require compliance validation.
  • Organisations are seeking to understand and improve the maturity of their cybersecurity programs.

Stages of Cybersecurity Due Diligence

  1. Scoping and Target Profiling
    • Define assessment scope based on company complexity (Enterprise vs. SMB).
    • Identify industry-specific compliance requirements.
  2. Technical Infrastructure Assessment
    • For high-complexity targets: Red Teaming, internal and external penetration testing.
    • For SMBs: Internal and external penetration testing, vulnerability scans.
  3. Cybersecurity Compliance Assessment
    • Enterprises: Based on NIST CSF 2.0.
    • SMBs: Based on NIST SP 800-171 or SP 1300.
    • Adaptation for industry-specific standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA).
  4. Gap Analysis and Maturity Evaluation
    • Compare the current cybersecurity posture against the desired state.
    • Identify gaps in incident response, business continuity, disaster recovery, and governance.
  5. Recommendations and Planning
    • Actionable, risk-based remediation plans.
    • Investment roadmap to reach target maturity.

Tenendo Approach

At Tenendo, we tailor Cybersecurity Due Diligence services to match the complexity of each target organisation. Our approach includes:

  • Customised methodology based on company profile (enterprise vs. SMB).
  • Red Teaming and advanced penetration testing for high-complexity environments.
  • Compliance mapping against recognised frameworks (NIST, ISO, GDPR, etc.).
  • Non-intrusive assessments ensure no disruption to business continuity.
  • Prioritised, actionable insights to help stakeholders make informed decisions.

We focus on delivering real-world value through practical security insights, not just checkbox assessments.

Deliverables

  1. Executive Summary
    • Key risks, overall posture, and high-level recommendations.
    • Future-state vision and investment overview.
  2. Technical Assessment Report
    • Testing methodologies and tools used.
    • Detailed vulnerabilities and threat findings.
    • Risk-based remediation recommendations.
  3. Compliance Assessment Report
    • Maturity scores across cybersecurity domains.
    • Gap analysis and compliance mapping.
    • Steps to achieve regulatory compliance.
  4. Remediation Plan
    • Prioritised action items based on risk, impact, and complexity.
    • Implementation timelines.
  5. Investment Roadmap
    • Cost estimates for each security improvement initiative.
    • Total projected investment to reach the target security level.
    • Potential savings and risk reduction value.

Benefits

  • Reduce acquisition risk by identifying hidden cybersecurity liabilities.
  • Support informed investment decisions with clear, actionable insights.
  • Enhance compliance readiness across various regulatory frameworks.
  • Protect reputation and operational integrity by minimising cybersecurity exposure.
  • Enable strategic planning with a clear roadmap to cyber maturity.